University of Minnesota doctor-patient team hopes to help people suffering from chronic pain

CBS News

2 days ago

It's a hard part of life for all of us, but for some, pain is constant. In the U.S., nearly 21% of people live with chronic pain, but a patient-doctor team from the University of Minnesota hopes to change that.
Cemeteries aren't where everyone feels comfort, but it's the type of environment Olivia Hall of Stillwater, Minnesota, is drawn to.
"You hear you wanna be a police officer, doctor, nurse, you don't always hear I want to be a funeral director," she said.
It's a passion to serve passed down from her grandfather. She studied mortuary science at the University of Minnesota.
She spends a lot of time on campus for another reason, too: her pain.
"On a good day, I live at like a five, on a bad day, it's like a 9, and sometimes that can be treated at home, sometimes I end up back here, unfortunately," Hall said.
She's a regular at the M Health Fairview University of Minnesota's emergency department. An emergency she had back when she was 15, a snowmobile accident, revealed a birth defect in her shoulder and the pain persisted.
"Just a constant aching and burning, nothing could take it away," she said. "It wasn't like a broken bone. It was nerve pain, but we couldn't take it away."
For years, Hall ended up in hospitals, needing painkillers.
"When my chronic pain journey started, there were days you couldn't get me off my floor everything hurt so bad. Vomiting out of control, my arms would turn purple, my legs would turn purple. I literally had a doctor come and say, 'You are just mad because I am not giving you the drugs you want.'" she said. "We as women are just expected to handle things at a different level."
Through her work, Hall realized the levity of the situation as she worked with and ached with a family who understood.
"I can remember the first suicide I showed up to, and it was heartbreaking. it was actually a chronic pain person," Hall said. "And I remember, it was literally because she told her husband if she didn't find a doctor who would listen, that she would end her own life on this day."
She wants to share her story for those who can't.
It's a story about hope she found at the emergency department at M Health Fairview with Dr. Cody Tidwell and his partner.
Johns Hopkins defines chronic pain as standing pain that persists beyond the usual recovery period. It can be complicated for patients and doctors, especially when the source of the pain is unclear. A South Dakota native, Tidwell embraced an area of medicine that can cause frustration.
"I think it's misunderstood. Unless you have had chronic pain, you don't understand how much it affects your life," he said.
Tidwell understood how affected Hall was.
"He literally pulled up a chair and listened to me, and my friend was with me and said, 'That's the first doctor who hasn't questioned you.'" Hall said.
Tidwell says it's hard not to be jaded for a physician who is not familiar with chronic pain.
"You get burned once and, as a human, you kind of put up a defensive wall, and say, 'OK, that's probably a drug seeker patient.'" Tidwell said. "I try to really give people the benefit of the doubt, really it's innocent until proven guilty. I really believe in that in health care as well. Just because we can't see or get a lab or really justify it objectively, that doesn't mean it's not real. I always go into it looking at, 'OK, you're experiencing pain. Why and what can I do for that?'"
With his partner and Hall, they established a care plan, identified a faulty nerve stimulator and weaned Hall off opiates.
"I am out doing things and I can be a human because six months ago I wasn't," she said. "I think it's amazing. I want people to know it can be better, it really can."
Hall has the energy to better serve others who are hurting.
"I just want people to know you are not invisible, that the care teams are out there," she said.